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A group of criminals from the North East who oversaw the importation of large amounts of cocaine using the encrypted messaging service Encrochat have been sentenced to a total of more than 141 years’ imprisonment.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) investigated the offenders, with assistance from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) and Northumbria Police on some of the cases.

Details of the cases, which date back to the Covid 19 pandemic, can be released after reporting restrictions were lifted at Newcastle Crown Court when three of the men were sentenced.

Among them was Kevin Taylor, 43, from Newcastle upon Tyne, whose EncroChat handle was “loyalmover”.

He was jailed for 27 years in relation to a plot to supply more than 200 kilos of cocaine with an e

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